#loooooots of interaction + character development :)

[enterpris]

An Education in Attraction, Chapter 7

Pairing: Reader x Gojo

Summary: It's spring when you start your Master's degree. As the flowers and leaves unfold, so too do your feeling for Gojo

Warnings: Mild swearing

Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Ao3: PlaidSparrow

"Teacher! What are we doing in class today? Can we skip the lesson and just have conversation time?" Kaba Ryo is one of your more enthusiastic students. 

You wave the stack of assignments in front of you. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we've got some worksheets today. There will be plenty of time to talk after, though."

He sighs and walks to the front of the classroom. You hand the sheets to Ryo, who lays them out on each desk as the rest of your students trickle in. 

Many of the students greet you as they enter, and your heart swells. Teaching while completing your graduate program is taxing, but there’s nowhere else you feel the same joy as when you’re leading the classroom. In the couple months you’ve been working with this group, the students have really warmed up to you. Not only are they more eager to participate in conversations with each other, they have plenty of questions about your life before coming to Japan and outside of the Eikaiwa school too. 

Today they’re flooding you with questions about how hard the classes in your Graduate program are. 

"Not as hard as learning a new language," you assure them. "What you're doing now will prepare you well for university."

You’ve settled into a rhythm of letting the students ask some questions at the beginning of class, it’s a good opportunity for them to practice new words and speaking. You answer since it’s a good application of listening skills too. Then you have them complete the worksheets. The sheets will introduce the new vocab in the next unit you planned. Since you're thinking so much about your future, you want to incorporate future tense and more professional words into your lessons. 

The second half of your sessions is where you have the most fun. Language learning is best done through practice, and giving the students some freedom to converse or preparing a game for them to apply grammar concepts is probably more fun than doing worksheets too. Today you’ll have them talk about their future dreams- jobs, goals, whatever the students hope for really. 

Most of these students have been enrolled in Eikaiwa schools since lower Middle School, and came into your class with high levels of proficiency. You just want to nurture their natural curiosity and talents. 

But you’re also determined to make sure your pupils are challenged. You want your students to pick up new phrases and ask questions about why English is the way that it is. Being able to communicate in English is a valuable skill in the current world, even though you have mixed feelings about your native tongue being a Lingua Franca.  

“Future tense in English is super easy, I bet you all can master it by the time you leave class today.” You explain the basics of using ‘will’ or ‘going to’ as auxiliary verbs. Then you turn the class loose to get some hands-on experience with the new structures. 

You walk around the circle of desks and listen to the overlap of your students’ conversations. You smile to yourself. The high schoolers are immediately integrating the vocabulary from the practice sheet, and they’re successfully beginning to use present tense too. You only have to make corrections to two conversation groups before the class is over.

It’s incredible to think about just how far these students have come so far. The first couple of classes were so reserved and quiet, you’ve had to really work on encouraging the students to speak up. But that’s the exciting part of teaching- engaging each pupil and finding what they’re passionate about and how they learn. When it’s time to end the class, your students are still chatting amongst each other, switching between Japanese and English.  

“Thank you!”

“See you next week!”

The chorus of support from your students is more intense than usual as they head out. You think it’s probably because you assign less homework than some of their previous teachers, but nonetheless, you can’t shake the satisfaction of a fruitful class as you pack up your bag and hop on the metro home. 

Browsing on your phone as you wait for your stop, you see that Gojo texted you again- it must have come through just as you were starting class. He had reached out asking if you were available to work on things today. 

That’s…interesting. After the relative success of your last meeting, perhaps he’s gotten over the awkwardness from the beginning of the term. One civil meeting hasn’t mended the insult of his brash outburst though, and even though he’s reaching out of his own volition, you’re hesitant to meet again.    

You debate your response for a moment and then send a quick apology, explaining that you work part time teaching and you hadn’t seen his message earlier. Since it’s already approaching evening, and it’s unlikely he wants to spend his Saturday night writing an academic paper with you, you don't offer to meet him now. 

You’ve fallen into the habit of spending your Sundays at the cafe just off campus though. The beige interior and quiet morning crowd are quite conducive to more lengthy reading, and you’ve got plans to catch up on the next chapters. You don’t want to completely brush off your partner, so on a whim you invite Gojo to join you tomorrow, it’s likely he’ll be too busy anyway.

By the time the metro stops and you walk back to your dorm, he hasn’t responded. 

The next morning, sun leaks through your window and paints your room with warmth. You’ve barely blinked but the mild sunshine of May is quickly melting into the sweltering summer of June, bringing later evenings and beautiful early mornings. 

As you dress for the day you check your phone and see that Gojo had sent you an affirmative message in the early hours of the morning. You hesitate, it had been an impulsive invite and you hadn’t thought he’d actually take you up on your offer. 

Apparently he is serious about working on things, though.

You pack up your bag and head to the cafeteria to grab breakfast, sending Gojo a quick message that he can expect you at the cafe in around an hour. A very normal breakfast should settle your nerves and set you up to be your cleverest when working on the project. 

After a quick stop for breakfast, you’re surprised to see Gojo’s beat you to the cafe. He’s already lounging in the small chair and sipping something. The table he’s chosen is tucked in the back, close to where you had sat the second time you’d met. You might have missed him if not for his very distinctive hair. 

When you sit down, Gojo offers you a smile. There’s no notes or drinks waiting this time, but he seems to be in good spirits.  

“Hey,” he greets. 

You respond in kind and start to set up. It feels strange to not engage in some kind of small talk, but you haven’t forgotten how unresponsive he originally was when you tried to ask about his weekend. Perhaps this new sunnier mood will make him more chatty too. Before you can break the silence, Gojo interrupts your thoughts. 

“So this is where you were working on your example problems alone?”

You blanch. Maybe Gojo hasn’t forgiven you for working alone just yet. 

The shock must be evident on your face because he laughs and leans farther back in his chair. It’s warm and deep- a genuine laugh. 

“Damn, you thought I was mad still, huh?”

Now this is a side of Gojo you haven’t seen before. He’s been quiet and standoffish and rude, but never- teasing? 

You’re feeling unmoored and strange. You shake off the similarities and answer. 

“Uh, yeah. But this is where I do a lot of my work, it’s usually pretty slow here on Sundays.”

“I looked over them by the way. Not bad. Have you started on the actual curriculum?”

“I’ve just got some initial notes. Have you begun yours?”

Gojo nods and pulls a notebook out of his bag. There are pages and notes sticking out the sides, densely packed with his messy handwriting and drawings. He carelessly flips it open and flicks quickly through the pages before turning it towards you.

“There’s some patches I haven’t fully detailed yet, still thinking about what depth to go into.”

You scan the page quickly and see that he’s seemingly outlined different streams of depth for physics- he’s listed particular concepts and already linked some with experiment setups. 

“Which principle is driving your decisions so far? We’ll have to explain each of the objectives and why we’ve chosen the material for the curricula.”

Gojo explains his outline and points out the most critical pieces he wanted included. You listen, intrigued. Although your outline for this project isn’t as developed as Gojo’s yet, your years at the Eikaiwa school have given you experience, including mistakes trying to move too fast or pack too much into your lesson plans. You’ve found it’s best to be somewhat agile and allow for more or less time depending on the particular needs of the class you’re working with.  

Your computer sits forgotten as the two of you converse about best pacing and how to choose the key objectives, and you leave the cafe in the afternoon ready to continue building your own curricula. 

The rest of the week goes smoothly: class and reviewing with Saito and Kuzume, another lesson at the Eikaiwa school, until you find yourself settling down at the cafe on Sunday once more. 

When Gojo doesn’t reach out first, it’s nearly impossible to schedule time to work together. You’re never more thankful for your iron timetable than when you have to plan another working session. Trying to find free time in his schedule is like clinging onto a mechanical bull- it seems every other week he’s out of town busy. You wonder if he is speaking at a conference or presenting work that he’s done in the past like Saito and Kuzume had suggested. 

The chapter you’re reading is lengthy and technical. Your brows scrunch and you try to decipher exactly what the author is trying to say about teaching philosophy. This particular text is a bit flowery for your tastes, but you suppose it’s good to absorb an array of perspectives while you’re trying to figure out exactly how you’re going to run your classroom.

You’re re-reading the previous sentence when your phone buzzes aggressively from the table. It goes off again. You have an idea of who might be texting before you even look at the messages. Gojo is available to work on the project today, and he'll head to the cafe shortly. 

It’s a pleasant surprise. You shut the curriculum textbook and open the document the two of you have slowly built. Even though Gojo prefers pen and paper over typing, he’s dutifully added his examples and the curricula he’d shown you last time. The rough draft has really grown too, the example problems are artfully woven together between the subjects and you’re feeling optimistic about adding your curricula .

Gojo blows through the doors of the cafe nearly 20 minutes later, giving you a quick wave and heading straight for the register. You nod back to him and return your focus to the computer.

He swoops into the chair across from you and throws his bag down. The last few times you’ve met his mood seems to be impenetrably sunny, and his appearance is nearly as consistent. You’ve never seen him without dark sunglasses, and his clothes are always flattering and tailored. It seems he may be thawing with the warm weather though- he’s in a crisp blue button down instead of his normal shadowy color palette. 

“How’re things going?”

“Going well so far, I’ve just been going over what we’ve written so far.” You pause for a moment. “I honestly wasn’t expecting you’d be able to work today.”

Two meetings in as many weeks without prior planning seems incredibly lucky. Or Gojo’s finally warmed up to you and isn’t trying to avoid meeting with excuses. 

He shrugs. “No other plans. And I do want to get this done.”

“I wanted to talk more about the curricula. I finished my objectives and thought we could compare pacing.” You say. 

“Sure.”

“I’ve taught in Eikaiwa schools for years now and classes usually go the same speed, but sometimes certain units take longer. Or we focus more on what the students want to learn. I wish there was more flexibility.”

“I agree. Honestly it should depend more on how the class is doing. You can’t teach every student the same.”

This is the first time Gojo’s outright agreed with something you’ve said. While you’ve seen some parallels in the way you both want to teach, there are usually more differences than similarities. 

The pieces come together in your brain. The simple example problems he’d provided. Saying that community makes the classroom. It’s not the material that he cares so much for, it’s the people that he’s teaching. It’s about the students.

You look up at Gojo in realization. He’s taken out his stack of notes and is absorbed in looking through the sheets. You take him in and re-evaluate. He runs a hand through his hair again then taps the end of the pen on the table. The sun catches in his silver hair and plays off the sunglasses he’s wearing again.

It feels oddly intimate to realize. 

His apparent teaching philosophy also seems directly opposed to the way he acts in class. If he's passionate about building an educational community, why doesn't he bother talking to any of your peers? Or participating in classroom discussions?

"Yeah," you say slowly. "I think approaching each learning style is the most valuable." 

You don’t want to disturb the working relationship the two of you are just building, and you’re hesitant to voice your realization since he’s been cagey about his personal life. You could either drop the subject or push a little harder and see if he’ll be more open this time. 

“You seem very passionate about the students’ experience,” you say neutrally. 

Gojo’s attention snaps from his notes onto you. You were right.

He doesn’t say anything for a moment. Once again, you’re left wondering what’s going on inside his head. Aside from the speed he looked at you, there’s no hint on his face. His jaw is soft and relaxed, and you can’t see his eyes.

“I think we need to start working on bringing our curricula together. It’s a big part of the project.” Gojo leans forward and looks at your screen and completely bypasses your observation. 

When you’re both looking at the content, the two of you do work well together. You fall into a rhythm analyzing the content of the paper, deciding how to really organize the sections you’ve written so far. Gojo is inquisitive and always has you justify your decisions, but you push back on some of his assertions on how to meld the subjects together. 

Soon you and Gojo are trading questions, hardly answering each other as you both edit the document.  

“What’s the purpose of this example?”

“I see why you put this objective here, but I think it would fit better in the next section.”

“Do you remember if this study was subject specific? Or were the data points generalized?”

“This objective doesn’t fit with your others. How can you adjust it to work better with the full curriculum?”

“What was your thought process for this problem?” 

The paper looks ten times more organized, and you’re much happier with the flow of information by the time you’re finished. You lean back in your chair, rub the cramps from your fingers, and smile at Gojo. 

By the time you leave the cafe, it’s late afternoon and it feels like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. The rainy season has only brought light showers, and today the sun is bright on your face as you walk back to your dorm. In fact, it seems a shame to waste the lovely weather of the day.

As a treat to yourself, you detour through the botanic gardens on your way home. The gardens are lush and heavy with growth at this time of year. Light twinkles on the surface of the central lake and the hydrangeas and orchids have come into full bloom- their light scent floats above the grounds and adds another layer of richness to the experience. By the time you make it back to your room and think about dinner, you’re practically glowing with happiness. 

[turtleblogatlast]

Do you ship any of the turtles with anyone? or do you ship anything in rise at all?

(This ended up being a lot longer an answer than I intended hoo boy sorry about that)

Hmmm, I’m not too big a shipper tbh! Especially since I really enjoy canon interactions backing my ships, so it’s hard for me to actively like any that don’t really have that going for them. There’s plenty that I see around that I think are cute, but that’s usually the extent of my thought process for them.

For ships I more actively have, I guess I like AprilxSunita! They’re very very cute and I think they have some huge meet cute energy in their first episode together, and their chemistry is genuinely adorable (plus them being featured means more April screentime which is ALWAYS a good thing.)

I also think AprilxCasey (and when I say Casey I mean our OG girl) is really good, as I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers, and I think they have a lot in common and just bounce off each other very well (not to mention this ship in other iterations of TMNT has a loooooot going for it.)

Keeping the chain going, I think RaphxCasey (again, OG Casey) is also one with a tonnnnn of potential. They have a lot of common characteristics, and considering Raph’s whole thing with Franken-Foot, I really think there’s a lot of room there for a relationship to develop. Plus, like AprilxCasey, Raph and Casey tend to have a close relationship throughout the iterations of TMNT and it would be great to see that more with these two, even if not romantically.

Actually going back to enemies to lovers, I unironically think there’s a ton going for DonniexKendra. I know a lot of people hate this ship, but I don’t and I actually think it could very easily work whether in a love-hate way or a slow burn way. There’s a lot to like here and honestly they’re good together! Kendra is legit Donnie’s type too haha (cute, but mean.)

Lastly, SplinterxDraxum is good…when done right. I really like when people take it and don’t undermine the very real trauma that Splinter has gone through. As I’ve stated a lot, I love me some enemies to lovers, so I can see the potential here. Plus lbr Draxum was down BAD for Lou Jitsu when he first saw him haha.

I think that’s the extent to what I actively like? Everything else usually falls into “aw cute” or “ehhh not for me thanks”. And before you ask YES leosagi is cute and I’ll read fics with it if the premise is appealing, but I’m afraid I need some canon interactions to establish base character dynamics before I actively ship it alas.😔 Super cute though, no hate to it or any of the other CanonxCharacter-they’ve-never-met ships, I genuinely think people should just have fun! And for what it’s worth I really do wish we got a Usagi and Leo interaction in Rise like we have in other iterations.:(

So yeah. Overall, I have a few ships I enjoy, but I fall much more in the “prefer to keep everyone to themselves and make the focus family and friendship” category.

[dynmghts]

💌 (shamelessly)

🐝  *  ― send 💌 or ( `LOVE LETTER` ) for me to write one thing i like about your blog, one thing i like about your character or your portrayal, and one thing i like about you in general. doesn't have to be anything long, just a little something to make someone's day a little brighter. if you want, include the url of someone else if you want me to write them some compliments.

i've been hoarding this buried under all of my other asks but guess what reina. i'm getting to it now. tonight i boost ur confidence (at least, hopefully, a little bit) in how AMAZING your writing is!

what i like about your blog: honestly, i have absolutely adored your pastel aesthetic for shoto since you moved him onto his own blog. i don't know what it is about it specifically, to be honest, but when i see any art of shoto in the more pastel tones, the first shoto that comes to mind is yours - it's such a strong association for me tbh, but i absolutely adore it! and let's be real, shoto looks really really good in pastel colours.

on top of that, i adore your simpler formatting when it comes to your writing; you emphasise a lot of words, but you don't add a lot of flair to it (e.g. extra spacing, excessive changes in font size, unique characters beyond quotation marks), which i think is a wonderful way to be. i've been constantly evolving my formatting to be a loooooot more readable and minimally formatted as a result of writers like you, because! well, i sit there and adore your writing all the same, and i'm captured by every sentence you write even without the tumblr dot com flair. i think it's a perfect way to be in a place where formatting + graphics mean everything!

what i like about your character(s): PLEASE. I ADORE YOUR SHOTO SO MUCH. you capture his very blunt and straightforward persona amazingly, in which his manifests differently to katsuki's where shoto is infinitely calmer in his approach. i also love how literal he can be sometimes! and just!! even his stubbornness!!! it can be really difficult to balance so many characteristics - which is a certain sign that the original author has a talent for three-dimensional characters, thanks horikoshi - but i always thought that you managed it perfectly. when i see your shoto and the way you transcribe him, i think, yeah, this is shoto. this is the same boy i read in the manga.

not only that, but i recognise him as YOUR shoto - you've developed him in a way that makes him unique to your interpretation, and i love that soooo so much.

what i like about you in general: reina. reina you have to understand that i think you are such a wonderful and cheerful person to talk to! and i MEAN that. i know that we don't talk often in dms, but i loooove to talk with you about our boys and how their dynamic has the potential to grow beyond what they already have in canon. i love that you have such an enthusiasm for your characters, even beyond shoto, and even with life pretty much blindsiding you at every turn (me too bestie), you still manage to maintain such a passion for your characters!

i know that you struggle a LOT with your confidence, and especially in writing, but just know i will always be in your corner telling you that every piece you write is an absolute godsend and a blessing to witness. i treasure EVERY interaction you give me. i am so so glad you have enough confidence to give me what you have, and believe me, i consume your media without fail with the same adoration as i had from the very beginning. thank you for being such an amazing person and a wonderful presence on my dash, no matter how frequent or scarce <3

POSITIVITY TRAIN.

[magpiewantsmorewords]

3&4 for any oc you want!

Thank you for the ask!

So, answering this, I'm going to use my OC Taf'ider, my absolute pride and joy of characters I've made over the years, from my favourite personal project, Wings of War, which is set on a fantasy planet with magic and political intrigue galore.

Q: 3. How did you choose their name?

A: I actually didn't come up with his name until I had the bare bones of two different languages worked out, because I wanted to tie at least some of his character into being a part of multiple cultures. I worked on it for a while, and he went through, like, 3 different names before I settled on Taf'ider adi Gel'barr. His first name I got from the word for "storm" (tafyrris) and the word for "(to) speak" (iander) in his mother's native language. Meanwhile, his surname just means "of the people of Gel'barr" anyone born into the imperial family keep that name, even if they marry out.

Three fun facts! In-universe, his mother named him, and she named him as a way to spite his father, because he's named after a Storm goddess (Ta'fiten) from her culture because he was born during a very volatile storm (Taf'ider has a very complicated relationship with his name and both of his parents, and some it is caused by his name). And, lastly, Taf'ider means "speaker of storms" as in, 'one who can hear/speak to storms.'

Q: 4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

A: Taf'ider was born into the imperial family of this place called the Gelish Empire, about 60-ish years post it becoming an empire. The empire itself if kinda huge, but the country of Gel'barr, prior to the Empire, was already pretty big with a large coastal region, a large portion being mostly flatlands with a couple river valleys, and the north-eastern part being very mountainous.

So, above I mentioned that he lives in a world with a lot of magic and steeped in political shit, yeah? Well, Taf'ider adi Gel'barr, third prince of Gel'barr, and technically heir to the throne- for reasons i'm not gonna go into this time because it would take a while to explain- has absolutely no magic. None. Zilch. Zero. Not inherited magic, not any kind of ancient-and-now-only-in-myths magic. Just none.

Which is a huuuuuuge point of contention for his character. It really ended up shaping his personality and the way he interacts with his family, with other characters, the world around him, and even with himself... If he'd had magic, his character would've been very, very, different, and he frankly wouldn't have ended up being a very good person, in fact instead of being one of the protagonists, he likely would've ended up as the main antagonist.

Sorry for the kind of long answers, I have a loooooot of stuff for WoW thought and planned out, but very little of the actual story written... But world building and character making is very very fun 😅

Thanks again for asking!

[dclllface]

can someone explain why tumblr rps aren't afraid of diversity as twitter rps are

see, i think it's about the experience in any platform, i feel like tumblr rp is more character focused, so you try to develop their feelings and other situations and relationships with anyone, like even the ask memes and stuff like that, they can totally tell you how they chara would feel if they see a naked cowboy giving out free candy or something, they know they chara and they want us all to know their chara, which is why they choose any fc with resources (or sometimes not even) that match the very specific vibe they have in mind, which means they're more open about which fcs they use, regardless of color or anything else for that matters... but they are a loooooot of tumblr fcs who absolutely love their white people and they will never pick anyone else which at this point i think it's valid, it gets criminal when they defend white people as a whole but that's politics

and speaking of... i think twitter based roleplayers (the ones that are the loudest in the rpc) are those who felt ostracized by any other community and they want to... make specific rules so everyone is as woke and politically correct as them (twitter before elon mentality) they thin every person with light skin is evil except for their fave kpop idols (i didn't say white, just light skinned) yet they never play bipoc or even black people, they complain about other people using aave but again, they don't rp those who are "allowed" to use it... it's a big part of being a twitter rp to follow these unspoken rules, every group is expected to follow the same diversity rules that are never enforced, every admin is forced to know every single "bad" thing every fc did before accepting them (this exclude their precious kpop boy, not the girls, just the boys) so imagine out of 100 fcs you could possible roleplay, that list went at least 60% down so we only get the popular ones, the new ones that haven't had time to mess up and the token white pop singer or influencer everybody loves

and it's not just that, twitter is plot based (supposedly) we follow a plot and days are passing at the same time as real life (mostly) so you get no time to plot or hc, not even to think about paraing bc it's already the next day and your character already made plans to hang out with someone else, and tumblr rp could last WEEKS irl but on rp time it has been 12 hours or so

and yes, i know i'm yapping but i'm in pain and i want to distract myself, continue

so this time thing also affects the way we pick our characters, we want someone with lots of pictures we can use to justify the lack of plotting, we just post pics from the event and said they got super drunk and that's it

while on tumblr, they iteract with people at the party, they got in a fight, they got food, they escaped to get timbits in the middle of the night, who knows? they've been in this party for two weeks and they're still waiting for one of their partners to reply to that 300k para they sent this morning

ALSO the time and effort people put on tumblr is almost crazy to twitter users (me included yall are on another level) from picking out gifs to use, writing an insane amount of text, having a whole blog with musings and a nice theme and graphics and interacting with every soul, honestly i couldn't, especially the waiting time, i'm impatient as fuck

so yeah, it all impacts the way we pick our fcs, why would i "waste" my time looking for a new fc who probably don't have enough material and write a bio and give them a personality only for the group to die in two weeks or for the admins to kick me out because i didn't showed up in two days?

at the end of the day the blame is 1000% on the members and the way they want to play and twitter has a lot of immature assholes who obsess over people and judge everyone for not following their unspoken rules and won't accept an apology.

the end.

[go-forth-and-live]

Hazel: with one day of freedom from Val, what would he do? Is there anything he feels he can’t or won’t do with Val inside of him? Give an embarrassing memory! Now give one that involves Val. How active is Val in Hazel’s daily life? What’s one thing they both agree on? Hazel’s favorite food. A smell or taste that brings up a strong memory? Does he have a core friend group? Or many people he’s acquaintances with? Did he get along with his parents? What kind of child was he?

With one day of freedom from Val, what would he do? 

Spend the day trying to banish Varahal to hell before he can re-possess his body. :\ 

Is there anything he feels he can’t or won’t do with Val inside of him? 

I think with Varahal now active and a conscious part of him, Hazel doesn’t really think finding a home or a family is something that’s really in the cards for him anymore. He isolates because he thinks it’s safest that way for the people around him. Early on, before he’s had time to learn how to cope with Varahal’s presence, he’s terrified of the possibility that he could lose control again and really hurt somebody. 

Give an embarrassing memory! 

He got in a schoolyard fight with a boy from his class once, when he was around 8 or 9. The kid got Hazel on a bad day, made some shitty comment about him being adopted, and Hazel just decked him. Bishop Filbert was called, along with the other kid’s parents, and they had to sit through a big disciplinary meeting about it in the headmaster’s office. The two of them had to shake hands and apologize. It was The Worst. 

Now give one that involves Val. 

One time he sneezed and his wings burst out of his back. He was at a crowded market and his wings are sharp enough to slice through trees. There were multiple injuries. One guy lost a hand. Hazel, unsurprisingly, had to book it out of that town toot sweet. 

How active is Val in Hazel’s daily life? 

I’m still kinda figuring that out! Though I think Hazel is generally pretty good at keeping him suppressed throughout the day, as long as he takes care of himself. Varahal can talk to him pretty easily through their shared consciousness, and I think that tends to be the limit of their day-to-day interaction usually. 

What’s one thing they both agree on? 

Falling down a cliff sucked, 0/10, would not recommend. 

Hazel’s favorite food.

So I have since learned that the line from Hazel’s character profile about his favorite food being “high quality food cooked without alcohol” may actually have been a mistranslation, and that his favorite food is “stylish cooking,” which simultaneously tells me both more and less about Hazel’s food preferences, BUT! Anything hella frou-frou and sophisticated is probably his jam. He’s a high-end steak cooked to perfection and king crab arranged elaborately in a seafood tower kinda boy. I feel like he probably likes oysters too. He just seems like an Oysters Guy. 

A smell or taste that brings up a strong memory? 

I have this idea in my head that Filbert used to cook chitterlings sometimes, and like--boy if you’ve ever smelled chitterlings, that’s an aroma you don’t soon forget. Hazel dutifully choked them down because he was determined to be a Good Son, but that’s a smell-and-taste memory that leaves him a little green around the gills. 

Does he have a core friend group? Or many people he’s acquaintances with? 

The impression I kind of get from the flashback chapters of the manga is that Hazel was the kind of kid who was seen as very polite, dependable, devout, and Nice, but kind of unapproachable. We never once see him hanging out with kids his own age, and while his peers don’t seem to be particularly mean to him (aside from that one kid who was like “oh he’s an orphan? no wonder he’s praying all the time, since he’s so much less important”, and like, hey! fuck you little kid!!!), they don’t really understand him.

As an adult, he’s very much the kind of person who comes off as extremely friendly, cheerful, and open, always the life of the party, but he keeps people perpetually at a distance. He’s well-liked by the people who don’t write him off as a self-absorbed jerk (which, lbr, he totally is, at least at the start of his development), but there’s not really anyone he’s comfortable having real conversations with or being genuinely vulnerable with. So. Yeah! I think he’s the kind of person who has a lot of acquaintances, but almost no real Friends. 

Did he get along with his parents? 

Hazel’s parents died in a demon attack when he was a toddler, and he never really had the chance to know them. That said, he was extremely close to his adoptive father, Bishop Filbert Grouse. Like... his wanting to be acknowledged by him and to be of use to Filbert in his work was kind of The Defining Arc of his childhood, and as an adult the memory of Filbert’s violent death at the hands of Varahal is a big part of why he is the way he is and hates demons as much as he does. 

(Note: This is excluding my shared verse with @notsomerciful where her OC August is secretly Hazel’s mom, though because she gave birth to him so young and wasn’t in a position where she was really able to raise him herself, he was brought up thinking she was his older sister. That relationship is uh... complicated! And fraught with an awful lot of mistrust, hurt feelings, and abandonment issues.) 

What kind of child was he? 

By all accounts, he was like, a model kid. Always polite and respectful, always did his chores, always did great in school--though I think a lot of it came out of a deep-seeded fear of rejection and not being worthy of love. The kind of kid who’s always worried about stepping out of line, or asking for too much, or just generally not Being Perfect. The fact that he wasn’t Filbert’s biological son always left him feeling somewhat like he needed to prove himself--even though this absolutely wasn’t the case for Filbert, who never treated Hazel as anything less than family. 

Basically he was a very well-behaved child with a loooooot of self-esteem issues that his adoptive dad probably recognized but didn’t fully know how to help him work past, and never really got the chance to support him through as Hazel grew up, since he also died when Hazel was pretty young. 

[salarta]

Comic Book Fandom Problem: Character Competition and Role/Panel Hoarding

At this point, I’m both a little experienced but still relatively new when it comes to comic book issues. I only really got into any comics consistently after I discovered Polaris from X-Men. I’ve been reading stuff with her since 2009, but it’s sporadic for her to get use.

In that time, I’ve noticed a lot of specific overall problems with “hardcore” comic book culture. This post is about the specific problem of “panel hoarding” and treating character use and presence like some kind of competition.

At its base, it goes to fanboy one-upsmanship. It’s the “my favorite superhero can beat your favorite superhero” thinking. A good example is how Frank Miller basically made Dark Knight Returns all about how great Batman supposedly is, to a point where Superman was written poorly so Batman could mop the floor with him.

Let’s really look at this. Why do these characters have to fight at all? If they fight, why does one have to be written poorly for the sake of the other? Why can’t a fight between them give both characters admirable qualities, with the loser losing the fight for perfectly good reasons?

When you get to the bottom of this stuff, this sort of behavior isn’t merely about fandom or wanting good exciting stories. This is ultimately about dominance and power. The people who insist their favorite character has to be on top and win everything are saying it cause they want their favorite character to be in a dominant position, and their fandom, and themselves, along with the character. It’s not really about the character. It’s not about good stories. It’s all about ego.

One personal example. In Secret Wars House of M, Polaris and Quicksilver fought. Lorna was depicted in that as a character that scared Pietro with her power, with Pietro only winning because of a surprise attack on Lorna not from Pietro. I didn’t like that either. Pietro was depicted very poorly to make Lorna look better.

This brand “dominance fight” was not needed. It’s a staple of comic books that some people blinded by egotistical desires think is a good thing. It’s not. Poor writing is poor writing, and everyone loses. With writing that treats both characters well, we could have seen some really interesting nuance to their genuine points of view. We could have seen some creativity for use of powers. Instead, Quicksilver was a bad caricature of himself, and that just pisses off fans of the character.

Another example. X-Men Blue recently had Polaris and Havok fight. I saw quite a few people liked that, and were excited to see Polaris beat Havok in that scenario. I wasn’t. I’m a Polaris fan. I consider her my absolute favorite character right now in anything. I wasn’t happy about Lorna interacting with Havok in any sense, including this sort of thing.

I have very detailed reasons, tied to Polaris’ character history, for why I don’t want her interacting with Havok. I won’t go into them here. It’s a very specific and special issue tied only to Havok. My point here is, this “dominance fight” wasn’t needed either. We could’ve had panels that focused on something entirely different. Lorna could have had an argument with Emma about mutants, for example.

Now, for a problem that’s not the same as above but closely connected: panel/role hoarding.

Comic books have a loooooot of characters available. Most characters are heavily underused in favor of ones that have been heavily promoted across decades. Here’s the problem: characters that can fit a niche are often ignored in favor of inserting those traits into “popular” characters where they don’t belong.

Sometimes, fans of a character think only their character can fit a role. Or, out of desperation to either get their favorite into a prime position or keep them there, fans will refuse to acknowledge other characters having any kind of meaningful stake in a storyline or event. They may even badmouth and try to diminish the character’s value to make that happen.

This is another dominance play. This is all ego and selfishness talking, and it’s a problem specific to comic books.

The “logic” of this attitude is that if you let other characters occupy the same or similar role, or have panel time too, that hurts your favorite character. That “undermines” your favorite character’s “standing” in the role and supposedly keeps them from getting much use.

This “logic” is a huge mistake. Even when taking on the same role, two characters are not going to think and behave the exact same way. They will have disagreements. They will have nuance. In some cases, the base role could split into more than one direction. If you have only one person in the role, you either lose all except one direction, or the one character allowed to have the role becomes a disgusting mess of poor characterization that ends up looking terrible to most people.

But when you acknowledge other characters’ worth and let them be involved? Your favorite character actually benefits. Maybe you lose some panel time for the character. Sure. The lost panel time is more than made up for by much better writing. The two (or more) characters can interact, develop associations, common ground. In the future, the already established connection can lead to amazing new stories that never would have been possible without the connection.

For this example, I have Scarlet Witch.

Brevoort at Marvel said a lot of negative things about Polaris several years ago. They seemed to be mainly fueled by the idea that Magneto can have only one daughter, and at the time, he wanted that sole daughter to be Scarlet Witch.

This was a mistake. There is a lot of interest in the idea of Polaris and Scarlet Witch spending time together as sisters. They’ve both dealt with mental issues. Lorna suffered from M-Day, and Wanda has yet to have a redemption arc/story that most X-Men fans accept. They would have common ground of being Magneto’s daughters, but that connection makes them closer and gives them opportunities to have interesting stories together. Brevoort had the belief that only one daughter can exist, because his focus was exclusively on the role of “Magneto’s daughter,” as if it’s a coveted title only one can have. It blinded him to what they can accomplish together because they both have the same role.

Later, after Marvel forced a retcon that made Scarlet Witch (and Quicksilver) no longer Magneto’s daughter, they tried to do a solo comic book for her. The book failed. Its main reason for failing was because Marvel had severed most of her meaningful relationships - including with Magneto and Polaris. Some thought that completely separating her from those relationships would be good for her prestige, but it wasn’t. Losing those relationships denied her the chance to interact with characters that could show her best qualities.

Same applies to any role situation. If you’re a real fan of a character, you want what’s best for the character. What’s best for the character is good writing, not oodles of appearances that all make the character look horrible just for the sake of exposure. If some panel time has to be sacrificed to get good writing, then so be it.

Comic book fandom is rife with these toxic attitudes. There are ways of doing things so ingrained that some fans mistakenly think they have to go along with the flow, or that what they know is a “tradition” that must be upheld. Some have also become so accustomed to those attitudes that it’s become a deeply ingrained part of who they are. They don’t want to break those habits and may refuse to see anything wrong with them.

But seeing the problem is the first step to better comics fandom, and eventually better comics as a whole.

[lostlittlekerovianprincess]

emerxlddxrkness

@emerxlddxrkness (for the record i got this yesterday but APPARENTLY Tumblr never posted)

my opinion on;

character in general: Mmmmmm Rita~ Reboot Rita I mean; I really do like Reboot Rita. She’s amazing and I really like the way she acted in the movie, the subtlies in the way she talked about Zordon and the way she talks and acts in general. A beautiful villainess who I was glad to say “You’re no lady, you’re an empress” during a certain scene, because she is: Rita is our empress, true as Billy being a cinnamon roll

how they play them: Veeeerrrryyyyy well~ Okay so i haven’t roleplayed a loooooot with them yet, partially my fault i think but also because we just started interacting. But their Rita seems so in character and I so look forward to seeing her develop and grow. The mun definitely hits on Rita’s ability to read people (movie wise; I never saw original!Rita as incredibly smart but reboot!Rita seems to have a bit of Zedd in her which makes her go from annoying witch to actually fascinating baddie) and that makes for some interesting interactions.

the mun: Seems nice. Admittedly I haven’t talked to them much yet, outside of a few tag stuff, but they don’t seem like a mean person; they came and talked to my princess after all XD 

do i;

follow them: Yuprp with them: On Karone’s blog XDwant to rp with them: Of course, i love to roleplay with peopleship their character with mine: OwO Uuuummmmmm no comment?

what is my;

overall opinion: Muse is perf, mun seems great, I look forward to more fun as long as Karone can keep from being murdered from her most recent reply DX But I do like this character and I want to do more with them XD

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty.

[sahibookworm]

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at That Artsy Reader Girl.

I love this topic because 2018 was a lot about discovery for me. I started interacting with more bloggers and following the community members on Twitter and Goodreads, which means I discovered a loooooot of new authors and their amazing books. And once I really like a book, I particularly enjoy going through the author’s backlist and I did the same this year. Now I’m quite excited to share with you all about these wonderful authors I read for the first time…!!!!

Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

One thing that really surprised me in 2018… I realized I loved reading sports romances, especially hockey – a sport which I had never even watched before I read these books. It started with The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen, which led me to reading all her books in The Ivy Years and Brooklyn Bruisers series. And then came Him/Us – her collaboration with Elle Kennedy and one of my favorite books of the year. This made me read and fall in love with Kennedy’s hockey romances – Off-Campus series and her latest Briar U, my favorites being The Deal and The Chase. I’m pretty confident I will be continuing their hockey romances with Bowen’s next Overnight Sensation and Kennedy’s upcoming book The Risk.

Mackenzi Lee

I’m not much of a reader of historical fiction, but Lee has definitely been instrumental in making me want to try reading them again. She writes such delightful and lovable characters that I don’t want the books to end. I enjoyed the experience of reading both Gentleman’s Guide and Lady’s Guide but it’s Monty and Percy whom I’ll always carry in my heart. Can’t wait to read whatever the author comes up with next.

Christina Lauren

I have had this author duo on my radar for some time, but I finally read four of their books in 2018. While I absolutely adored the beautiful Autoboyography and the hilarious Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, I didn’t enjoy the very popular Love and Other Words and I actually found the premise of My Favorite Half-Night Stand slightly problematic. However, I’m still very much looking forward to whatever they write next.

Alice Oseman

I’ve only read Radio Silence by Alice and followed the Heartstopper webcomic for a while, but these characters have really left a mark on me and I’m very excited to read all her other books.

Nisha Sharma and Sangu Mandanna

These two wonderful ladies write in two very different genres but their writing means so much to me. Nisha’s book My So-Called Bollywood Life truly represented my love for the Hindi movie industry in a hilarious manner while Sangu’s A Spark of White Fire was a Mahabharata retelling I never knew I needed in my life. I feel blessed to have read these books and can’t wait to read The Takeover Effect and A House of Rage and Sorrow.

Lily Morton

I really didn’t realize how much I would enjoy British humor until I read the Mixed Messages series by Lily Morton and recently Oz. These books are just so hilarious, there should be a warning not to read them in a public place. I have had that experience and I promise you, it was very difficult to control my laughter. I can’t wait to see what her next book is and I really hope it’s about Niall and Milo.

Suanne Lacquer

Suanne has written (I mean I have read) two of the most beautiful books ever and I would probably start crying even if I think about them. They are just WOW !!!! Her next book is a fantasy and it’s also the book Javier is writing in A Charm of Finches, so I’m just doubly excited for it’s release.

C. S. Pacat

I’m totally in awe of this author’s writing. When I first read Captive Prince, I was fascinated but I wasn’t sure why all the praise for the romance. But Pacat writes some of the best character development I have ever seen in Prince’s Gambit and King’s Rising and I just can never forget the relationship between Damon and Laurent. And then I decided to read all the 12 issues of Fence and it’s such a fun graphic novel series with beautiful art and much more amazing friendships. I don’t know how I will wait for probably an year for the next volume to release.

Have you read any of these author’s works and loved them too? Who are some of the authors you discovered in 2018? Do share your thoughts with me… !!!!

  TTT: New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish that now has a new home at